NBC Backpedals Over Analyst's Japan Controversy

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe smiles as he watches a women's hockey game between Japan and Sweden at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

(Newser)
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NBC continues to suffer fallout from its coverage of the opening ceremony in the Pyeongchang Olympics, with the network issuing an apology on behalf of an analyst who sparked controversy by praising Japan. Joshua Cooper Ramo on Friday called Japan "a country which occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945, but every Korean will tell you that Japan is a cultural, technological and economic example that has been so important to their own transformation." Cooper Ramo's statement, as the New York Times notes, while acknowledging that Japan occupied the Korean peninsula, appeared to glaze over the long, troubled relationship between Japan and the Koreas, and sparked immediate outrage in the Olympics' host nation, South Korea.

An online petition demanding an apology currently has more than 10,000 signatures, and reads thusly: "Any reasonable person familiar with the history of Japanese imperialism, and the atrocities it committed before and during WWII, would find such statement deeply hurtful and outrageous." NBC apologized on-air Saturday via anchor Carolyn Manno, who said, "We understand the Korean people were insulted by these comments and we apologize."

NBC's commentators are idiots. They've made themselves the story instead of the games. And they do this repeatedly. When will they learn? Talk about sensitivity training! All it takes is a little thinking of how someone is going to interpret a remark.

AEK

Feb 14, 2018 4:27 PM CST

Yeah, Korea has every reason to look up to Japan. Especially Korean women. /////

Lee Datina

Feb 13, 2018 3:24 AM CST

the problem is you have people commenting on issues they really have no business trying to be an authority on,when you are there to cover a sporting event, not a history changing event which somehow you figure you can formulate an uneducated view on 2 countries with very harsh views of one another from 70+ years ago. these people dealt with 30 years of occupation, at the hands of brutal soldiers. and i doubt we even have a slight understanding of how harsh it was and how many lost their lives as a result. if anything will start an international , it will be from know nothing reports that barely sports commentor's we have covering the event makes a noble prize contender perspective on what we know little about